We stayed here for five days after an over night train ride from
Calcutta. Our group was 11 people in total, we were enjoying some travelling before returning back to Calcutta for a wedding.
We arrived really early in the morning and the staff was obviously not ready for us, but nobody is ever ready for you in India, that's how it goes! We had the best time at the BNR, the rooms are nothing to brag about, clean enough, the food was great, we had them serve many of our meals on the terrace outside our rooms. We found it to be one of the best places to eat in Puri! The hotel is old with grand hallways and nice gardens, no money is spent on fixing anything, so it's falling apart in places, but we loved it anyways! The hotel is completely gated and guarded by security in full uniform, don't leave without your key, if the guard doesn't recognize you, and you don't have your key, they won't let you in! Our group ranged in ages from late 20's to the grooms parents in their 60's, everybody had a great time! An interesting thing to do is to go out on one of the local fishing boats, try to avoid the constant attempts on the beach to sell you pearls.

The BNR (South East Railway) Hotel in Puri is a trip back to the 1950s. The Raj is gone but the flavor lingers on under a socialist bureaucracy. That is, the customer needs to please the management, not vice versa, until management is convinced the customer is important enough to fawn over.

We arrived after several hours delay in Delhi because of fog and the first words the receptionist/manager said was, "You're late. We've been waiting for you." That said, they hadn't gotten the rooms ready, so we had to wait to put things away. Then the sheets were dirty and had to be changed and the toilets needed re-cleaning.

After I put on my memsahib act (I've lived in India off and on since 1965 and this comes naturally when needed) attitudes changed and not enough could be done to make us comfortable but it was too late for my guests. They hated the place, had decided it was irretrievably unhygenic, and ate breakfast bars for dinner and breakfast both.

I, however, loved being reminded of my youth. I appreciated the furnishings, found the room quite comfortable, and joked with the staff. This hotel is great for the right people but not for everybody.

My dinner, incidentally, was horrible but we had almost missed the regular dinner hours. Breakfast, served on the terrace at my request, was delicious. Meals are only served at specified times; otherwise no food is available from the dining room.